Delhi school asked to readmit dismissed poor students

New Delhi, Oct 6 (IANS) Somya and Shubham Giri, who were struck off the school rolls last month as their parents could not afford to pay the fees, can now look forward to classes at their south Delhi school again thanks to the Delhi High Court. A division bench headed by Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah has ordered the Suraj Bhan DAV Public School, Vasant Vihar, to take back the two students belonging to the economically weaker section (EWS) of society.

“We are happy to go back to school and study further,” Somya told IANS.

Somya, a student of Class 4, and her brother Shubham, who is in Class 3, were admitted to the school in south Delhi in 2004-05 under the EWS quota. Though the siblings were entitled to free education, the institute started demanding they deposit the full fees and other charges.

“Since July 2008, the school had been repeatedly threatening the parents to either deposit the fees and other charges or the names of the students would be struck off the rolls,” said advocate Ashok Agarwal, who appeared for students.

He said the school, in violation of orders of the high court and the Delhi government, removed the students on Sep 20.

The school contended that the parents were required to submit their income certificate from the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) every year, which they had not done.

But the court Friday rejected the school’s arguments and held that under the provisions of the Delhi School Education Order, 2006, such a certificate was required to be submitted only once; thereafter, the parents of students admitted against free seats should submit a self-declaration of annual income every year.

The court had Sep 29 ordered the director of education (DoE) to hold an inquiry and submit its action taken report.

The school is situated on land allotted by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) at concessional rates on the condition that it shall admit 25 percent of students from the economically weaker sections and grant them freeship.